How to specify the order of XmlAttributes, using XmlSerializer

Question

XmlElement has an "Order" attribute which you can use to specify the precise order of your properties (in relation to each other anyway) when serializing using XmlSerializer.

public class bookingList
{
    [XmlElement(Order = 1)]
    public string error { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order = 2)]
    public int counter { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(ElementName = "booking", Order = 3)]
    public List<booking> bookings = new List<booking>();
}

Is there a similar thing for XmlAttribute? I just want to set the order of the attributes from something like

<MyType end="bob" start="joe" />

to

<MyType start="joe" end="bob" />

This is just for readability, my own benefit really.

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '10 at 15:51

12

You don't, as attributes have no order in XML (section 3.1 of the XML recommendation says: "Note that the order of attribute specifications in a start-tag or empty-element tag is not significant.").

answered Apr 12 '10 at 15:51

Lucero

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6

I take your point. However I have to disagree with that statement you quoted (I know they're not your words), the order is significant to me. Yes it will still work either way, but I do care and I do want to set the order :'( – demoncodemonkey Apr 12 '10 at 15:58
2

As an aside, there exists so-called Canonical XML where attributes are sorted lexicographically, see http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-c14n11/#DocumentOrder – Dirk Vollmar Apr 12 '10 at 16:04
I see. What you could do is have your own implementation or wrapper for XmlWriter and then sort them as you see fit there. – Lucero Apr 12 '10 at 16:05

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 23 '14 at 00:25

From my experience, the order of serialization of attributes is the same as the order you define your public properties. However, if you combine properties with fields in the same class, e.g.

[Serializable()]
public class MyClass
{
   [XmlAttribute("ADoubleProp")]
   public double ADoubleProp { get; set; }

   [XmlAttribute("AnIntField")]
   public int AnIntField = 42;
}

then the fields get written firsts as attributes and then the properties. The code above will produce something like this

<MyClass AnIntField="42" ADoubleProp="0" />

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

1

In C#, as far as what I have found, the order of attributes are serialized in the order that they are defined in the class.

See my answer to this question here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/21468092/607117

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Jan 30 '14 at 21:50

Derreck Dean

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 13 '19 at 14:42

0

If you are creating the XML dynamically, try changing the order in which you append the attribute to the node and it should work :)

answered Jul 13 '19 at 14:42

Dinesh Masilamani

11

score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 11 '20 at 17:37

-1

xmlNode.Attributes.InsertAfter(newAttribute, refAttribute); 
xmlNode.Attributes.InsertBefore(newAttribute, refAttribute);

edited Dec 11 '20 at 17:37

Amit Verma

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answered Dec 11 '20 at 14:25

user14808280

1

How to specify the order of XmlAttributes, using XmlSerializer

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